Why your boss is programmed to be a dictator

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Here’s one thing I’ve discovered after reading many whistle
blower stories: there is often an unbridgeable gulf between what a company or
organization’s stated policies are, and what the “chain of command” really
wants. The policies are usually idealistic, well-meaning and clearly
ethical. And of course, they’re very
well publicized both inside and outside the company. Yet, when they are
contrary to what the company ‘leadership’ wants, the policies are unceremoniously
and quietly junked. But the façade - that the policies are very much in place –
is still maintained.

This reminds me of the days of communism when East Germany
called itself the “German Democratic Republic,” when in reality it was a
full-blown dictatorship. Just because the country called itself a democracy
didn’t mean you could take that as policy and behave like a free citizen. The “policy” of democracy was literally a
death trap if you took it as reality.

Similarly, whistle-blowers suffer when they naively believe in
company policies. I’m not talking about whistle blower protection policies, but
merely the policies the organization says are important, for example, “a
culture of safety.”

The whistle blower stands on what she believes is firm
ground, and blows the whistle. Then, to her horror, she watches the ground
turning into quicksand, devouring her career. The only difference is that
unlike in a natural disaster, the whistle-blower knows the quicksand is being
engineered by the organization itself.

The harsh lesson to be learnt is: don’t obey company policy.
Instead just obey your dictators at work, and all will be well for you.

Monday, April 22, 2013

The author Upton Sinclair said it best: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."Brilliant and bang on target. Comments? Email me: cvdhruve@gmail.com

Monday, August 20, 2012

Yesterday, a friend asked me a brilliant question. Here's the issue he presented to me. He said that in marriages (certainly in earlier decades) men had control, and women held a subordinate position relative to their husbands. Further this subordination is mandated by several religions, and many women made "obedience" promises as part of their wedding vows..

In my book, I've quoted the Whitehall studies that show mortality and health depend on your grade in the organization hierarchy. The higher up you are in the org chart, the better your health is. Higher grades mean higher levels of control, resulting in better health levels.

My friend's question was, how can we reconcile the Whitehall studies with the fact that women have a higher life expectancy than their husbands, given that women ostensibly have lower control than their husbands within marriage?

I'm guessing that there are two main reasons for this phenomenon:

1. Women traditionally "married up". They wanted a man who was more powerful than they were, in terms of wealth, income, status, education, ambition and so on. Further, they wanted men physically dominant, ie taller and stronger than themselves. Also, this imbalance of power was actually a source of comfort for the woman, as it provided a sense of security (I'm obviously making some broad and sweeping generalizations here).

2. The man was in the position of protector, in that he was primarily responsible for his wife and family's safety and security, including providing for them. It was in his self-interest to protect his family. That said, many men did abuse their wives, as the system was still that of a dictatorship. Nonetheless, this "dictatorship system" does not seem to have an overall negative effect on life expectancy of women (I am of course not talking of extreme cases of abuse that resulted in women dying of grievous injuries).

In contrast, bosses are in no way responsible for your "safety" (in this case, job security). Your boss's main job is definitely not to care for you, or provide for you, or protect you.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Dr Atul Gawande is one of my favourite writers. In his latest article, titled "Big Med", Dr Gawande draws parallels between the efficiency of restaurant chains such as the Cheesecake Factory , and the (in)efficiency of the US healthcare system.

Dr Gawande compares the two systems and says (page 10, para 7), "Patients won’t just look for the best specialist anymore; they’ll look for the best system."While I don't mean to compare two different contexts, I've said something similar in my book about leadership: that leadership is a system, and we have to compare leadership systems, rather than the leaders themselves. Leaders are important, in the same way that individual doctors are important. There are bad leaders and good leaders, and good doctors and bad doctors. Nonetheless, these individual differences can pale in comparison to systemic differences.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Just yesterday, I posted about the passing of Roger Boisjoly. And today, I read that Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, passed away yesterday. (NY Times obituary here)

At a time when Mr Boisjoly was being shunned by practically everyone because he revealed the truth about Challenger, Ms Ride backed him. According to Boisjoly's obituary in the NY Times, "He [Boisjoly] later said he was sustained by a single gesture of support. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, hugged him after his appearance before the commission.“She was the only one,” he said in a whisper to a Newsday reporter in 1988. “The only one.”

Rest in Peace, Sally Ride. We should all derive inspiration and strength from her example.

About Me

I'm the author of the book, "Why Your Boss is Programmed to be a Dictator". The book examines boss behaviour through the lens of Systems Thinking (you can find out more on my personal website, cvdhruve.com).
I've worked for a variety of large organisations such as Cisco, IBM and the British Civil Service (Department for International Development, which is the aid wing of the Foreign Office).
I have an MBA from Cass Business School in London, an MA in international journalism from City University (London) and a Bachelors in Physics, Electronics and Maths from Bangalore University (Bangalore).